Google chairman Eric Schmidt has squashed rumors that the company will merge its Android and Chrome operating systems, telling attendees at Google's Big Tent event in India that the two platforms are "certainly going to remain separate for a very long time, because they solve different problems." The denial comes after Google unveiled a new Chrome Android statue on its Mountain View campus and announced its executive reshuffle, where Google VP of Chrome and Apps, Sundar Pinchai, replaced Andy Rubin as the head of Android, prompting speculation that the two platforms would unite.

Schmidt did say that while Android and Chrome would not merge, there would be more "commonality" between them, which doesn't rule out the possibility that Chrome OS may one day run Android apps. With news of Google's Reader shuttering still fresh in people's minds, Schmidt also said neither platform would be abandoned.